Wall Street Indexes Drop 1.4%, Crude Oil at New 2015 High

Nichole Harper
30 Apr, 2015
New York City

Market indexes on Wall Street tumbled led by a decline in technology companies and on mixed batch of economic data. Apple declined nearly 3% after the company restricted the sale of Apple Watch. Crude oil extends to a new 2015-high.

[R]3:20 PM – Market indexes on Wall Street tumbled led by a decline in technology companies and on mixed batch of economic data. Apple declined nearly 3% after the company restricted the sale of Apple Watch. Crude oil extends to a new 2015-high.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street took a dive and weekly jobless claims dropped to a 15-year low.

Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims declined 34,000 to 262,000 from the previous week unrevised claims of 296,000, the Department of Labor said today.

Personal income in February rose less than 0.1% and disposable personal income grew less than 0.1%. Personal consumption expenditure jumped 0.4% in the month, the Department of Commerce reported.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index slumped 0.7% or 75.85 to 10,668.62.

S&P 500 index slipped 13.71 or 0.6% to 2,093.15 and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 62.60 or 1.3% to 4,960.09.

Tech stocks were under pressure after Apple stock fell more than 2% on a Wall Street Journal report that the company limited the sale of the Apple Watch after a key component failed to perform as designed.

Yelp Inc ((YELP)) plunged 24% after the consumer review site operator forecasted revenues that missed analysts’ estimates. The stock plunged to a near 2-year low of $39.

Crude oil in New York gained 84 cents to $59.42 a barrel and gold tumbled $27.90 to $1,182.10 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

Colgate-Palmolive Company ((CL)) dropped 2.4% or $1.67 to $66.84 after the consumer products maker reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in March declined 6% to $4.07 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 39.7% to $542 million or 59 cents per diluted share compared to $388 million or 42 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company said total oral, personal and home care sales in the quarter dropped 6% to $3.5 billion and pet nutrition sales slipped 3% to $538 million from a year ago period.

Exxon Mobil Corporation ((XOM)) gained 28 cents to $88.16 after the energy explorer reported total revenues in the first-quarter ending in March plunged 36.4% to $67.62 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 45.7% to $4.94 billion or $1.17 per diluted share compared to $9.10 billion or $2.10 from the same quarter last year.

Time Warner Cable Inc ((TWC)) decreased $1.38 to $156.48 after the cable TV operator reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in March climbed 3.5% to $5.78 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter slumped 4.4% to $458 million or $1.59 per diluted share compared to $479 million or $1.70 from the same quarter last year.

In the quarter, the company added 30,000 residential video customers, for the first time since 2009, and added 320,000 residential voice customers and triple play customers jumped by net 298,000 customers compared with 82,000 customers in a quarter a year earlier.

Visa Inc ((V)) slipped 1.5% or $1.01 to $66.33 after the payment processor said total revenues in the second-quarter ending in March climbed 7.3% to $3.38 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared 11.3% to $1.57 billion or $2.53 per diluted share compared to $1.41 billion or $2.20 from the same quarter last year.

European Markets

Stocks struggled to hold ground across Europe and the latest inflation report suggested prices have halted the declining trend.

In a preliminary estimate the annual inflation in the euro area break even in April after falling 0.1% in March and dropping 0.6% in January, the Statistical Office of the European Communities said today.

The core rate of inflation excluding food and energy costs was unchanged in April at 0.6%.

In a separate report, the statistics office said seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the euro zone in March was stable at 11.3% from February but dropped from 11.7% in the month a year ago.

In the wider European Union region of 28-nations unemployment rate was stable 9.8% from February but fell from 10.4% in March a year ago.

Unemployment from a year ago declined by 1.523 million in the EU28 and 679,000 in the euro area.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% or 15.08 to 6,931.20 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.4% or 40.97 to 11,473.69.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slid 0.1% or 5.21 to 5,034.18.

For the week, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5% and in Frankfurt the DAX index dropped 2%.

In Paris, CAC 40 index declined 1.6%.

For the month of April, FTSE 100 index jumped 1% and in Frankfurt the DAX index plunged 5.2%.

In Paris, CAC 40 index decreased 0.5%.

Airbus Group NV increased 1.8% to €61.69 after the France-based aerospace and defense products maker reported group revenues in the first-quarter ending in March slipped 3.9% to €12.1 billion from €12.6 billion a year ago.

Net profit in the quarter surged 80.4% from a year ago to €792 million compared to €439 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to €1.01 from €0.56.

BNP Paribas SA declined 2.6% to €55.85 after the France-based retail bank said total revenues in the first-quarter ending in March soared 11.6% to €11.06 billion from €9.91 billion a year ago

Net profit in the quarter climbed 17.5% from a year ago to €1.65 billion compared to €1.40 billion and diluted earnings per share jumped to €1.01 from €0.56.

Asian Markets

Nikkei in Tokyo plunged 2.7% after two-day holiday and the U.S. economy nearly stalled in the first-quarter. Honda dropped 7% after the automaker estimated flat earnings in the current fiscal quarter. NTT DoCoMo declined 6% on earnings outlook.

Market indexes in Tokyo plunged in short trading week after the U.S. economy nearly stalled in the first-quarter and Honda estimated flat earnings in the current fiscal year.

Japanese stocks have surged on the back of strong monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan and foreign investors are increasing exposure to the euro zone on the monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 538.94 or 2.7% to 19,520.01 and the broader Topix index dropped 34.64 or 2.1% to 1,592.79.

For the week, Nikkei slipped 0.7% and for the month increased 0.6%.

The yen closed at 118.94 against a dollar.

Market indexes in India and rupee fell for the third week in a row and the Sensex dropped to a four-month low after weak economic growth in the U.S. and weaker-than-expected domestic corporate earnings.

Rupee weakened 18 paisa to 63.47.

The Sensex Index declined 214.62 or 0.8% to close at 27,011.31. The CNX Nifty decreased 58.25 or 0.7% to 8,181.50.

For the week, the Sensex Index plunged 2.4% and for the month tumbled 3.2% and for the week the CNX Nifty declined 2.3% and for the month plummeted 3.4%.

The benchmark index in India declined for the third week in a row. Axis Bank net climbed 18% on 22% increase in revenues. Biocon net soared 78%. Exide Industries net and revenues rose. TVS Motor net surged 74%.

Vedanta Limited rose 1.4% to ₹210 after the minerals explorer said net in the fourth-quarter swung to a loss of ₹19,228.12 crore compared to profit of ₹1,621.55 crore in the same quarter last year.

Net revenues in the quarter declined 18.45% to ₹17,661.80 crore.